UnitedHealthcare A Healthy Fit For City Place Downtown

August 04, 2010|By KENNETH R. GOSSELIN, kgosselin@courant.com

UnitedHealthcare's $35 million renovation project is the most massive at CityPlace I in downtown Hartford since the tower was built in 1980 — and the health insurer is clearly proud of a long list of improvements.

Large conference rooms are situated on one floor to save space for smaller, more informal gathering spaces on other floors.

Big executive offices with window views have given way to worker cubicles that are now near the windows; the bosses have moved to interior spaces.

The varied color scheme — earth tones and light-colored woods — reflects the style of the home office in Minneapolis.

But what the company's local leaders may be most excited about seems at first a no-brainer for a health insurer: an employee fitness center. They have good reason to be excited, though, because their former offices a few blocks away at Connecticut River Plaza didn't have one.

"I would say, 'How am I a health care company, and we can't have a place for our employees to work out and shower?' " said Mike Matteo, chief executive of UnitedHealthcare's national accounts business, which is based in Hartford.

The fitness center, a suite of rooms for nursing mothers to pump and refrigerate milk and a new cafeteria are among the amenities that will be open to the public for the first time today during tours for government officials, community organizations and the media.

In a tour last week for The Courant, Matteo said CityPlace I offered the opportunity to create a new workspace for its 2,100 employees in the city. The fitness and wellness center, for instance, was crucial. UnitedHealthcare tried unsuccessfully to negotiate with its former landlord at Connecticut River Plaza for that amenity.

"Coming to a new location, in a unique way, we were able to create a better space for our employees," Matteo said.

In all, UnitedHealthcare renovated 18 floors and nearly 450,000 square feet of the 38-story tower, the tallest in Connecticut. The work began late in the spring of 2009, and UnitedHealthcare workers began moving into their new quarters in April of this year. The move was completed two weeks ago.

UnitedHealthcare's decision to relocate to CityPlace and invest $34 million of its own money — the remaining $1 million was a state grant to increase the building's energy efficiency — was seen as a godsend after MetLife moved out of the tower early last year.

That left CityPlace I — which is owned separately from the smaller, adjacent CityPlace II — with the prospect of a half-empty building.

City officials worried that the vacancy in the middle of the central business district would have street-level vibrancy and on the shops and restaurants downtown. The insurer's lease also helped secure financing last year for the owners that helped pay a past-due property tax bill, operating expenses and other improvements.

Matteo said the lease is long-term, but declined to comment on details, citing confidentiality agreements with the landlord, a New York investor group. But long-term generally means at least 10 years, and as much as 15 or 20 years.

The floor designs emphasize smaller meeting spaces, known as "huddle rooms," where employees can kick around an idea around a table, or use them to make a private call. "Touchdown rooms" cater to visiting employees. All the spaces have whiteboards.

The 12th floor is the reception area where the company's large conference rooms are located. The floor also contains training rooms, the largest of which could accommodate up 300.

"We didn't have a room that fit more than 30 and that was crunching chairs," Matteo said.

Not much remains of the old space. Walls were torn down to reconfigure space. All the old wallboard was ripped out and replaced. Executive offices were moved from the windows to the interior of floor spaces. Ample use was made of glass to capitalize on the light provided by the tower's massive floor-to-ceiling windows.

Green building techniques were emphasized in construction. Nearly 250 tons of demolition material was removed and recycled. Much of the upholstery on furniture is recycled fabric. To cut down on plastic water bottles, each employee was given a large, blue, plastic cup that can be filled at water-dispensing stations on each floor.

On the second floor, the new cafeteria that will be open to the public will emphasize " heart healthy" options, such as brown rice, whole grain breads and fresh vegetables.

"There was always a bowl of fruit where we used to be, but you have to look for it," Matteo said.

The cafeteria was planned to be appealing to the eye, too. Instead of workers dropping stainless steel trays of food into warming stations, some menu items will be in kiwi green Le Creuset cookware.

Lunch entrees are priced at $6.99 and below. Sandwiches will go for under $5. The cafeteria will be open for breakfast, from 7 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Lunch will run from 11:15 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

Some of the artwork adorning the spaces was created by disabled artists. One painting appears to have raised bumps on it, but to a trained eye, it is actually Braille letters spelling "social responsibility," which the company claims as a core value.

Matteo said the company's commitment to the city is more than to the building. He hopes to promote more participation by employees in the city. He's interested, for example, in Hartford Mayor Pedro Segarra's push to clean up the city's parks.

"We have 2,100 employees and Bushnell Park is right here," Matteo said.